The Foolproof Way to Start Implementing Strategies in Your Business
What do we actually do with information overload? When it comes to making plans for your small business you’ve got ideas and game plans out the wahzoo.
You see a shiny new course from this A-list business strategist and you just have to buy it, or maybe your favorite influencer has just released another free resource, so you rush to download it. Perhaps you’ve spent hours scrolling through Pinterest and saving tons of Pins that look interesting. Or you’ve just finished watching yet another webinar about a new thing you think could help, and you’ve filled a page or two with notes.
Can we get real with you for a second?
All of those countless courses, freebies, saved Pins, and webinar notes don’t mean a darn thing if you aren’t going to actually start doing something with them.
Sure, “knowledge is power”, but we’d like to think you don’t have much power if that knowledge isn’t being applied or even retained because you forget about it the next day when a new shiny squirrel catches your attention.
So, what do you do with a strategy once you’ve learned it besides just letting it sit in your virtual cupboard to collect dust?
These actionable steps will help you to figure out your own actionable steps when wanting to implement a new strategy. And if you have no idea what you even want to implement, stick around for a surprise at the end!
How Does It Align with Your Business?
The very first thing you need to do is ask yourself, "Does what I just learned fit the goal I have for my business right now?"
Not that every strategy you learn is going to make sense for you right out of the box. You’re likely going to need to pull some key takeaways and pivot it slightly to conform to your own business.
It’s absolutely okay if not everything you learn is a fit no matter how much you twist and bend it. Maybe you don’t have the time, are at a place where you just can’t do it, or don’t feel ready just yet. Know that you have that information and can pass it along. Share it with others, use it to make small talk, whatever! Just don’t let it sit up there in your brain withering away.
On the other hand, if you know that a new strategy is right for you, or even if it’s just super intriguing and you want to see how it could help your business, how do you go about actually implementing it?
Make It Visual
Lay it all out on the table! Yes, that means grab those three full front-and-back pages of notes you took from that webinar a few months ago that you loved but never got around to doing anything with it, and try to make that braindump a little more coherent. You don’t have to try to get it organized just yet, but you want to make sure all of that possible chicken-scratch has neat bullet points.
If you already have an idea that’s just been floating around in your head, dump all of it out, too. We personally prefer Trello for our idea vomits, but you can use your favorite project management tool (which could just be your handy-dandy planner).
Bring It to Life
Here comes the good part. This is where you start making it a real, live ready-to-go strategy. Turn your braindump into actionable steps. How is this strategy going to help you reach your goal? What steps are you going to take to make it happen? Where do you need to start?
Wait a minute, we can already see you starting to get overwhelmed. Cut it out and take a breath! All you have to do is take it one step at a time. You already know what you want your end goal to be, so don’t try to process the big picture all at once.
Imagine a trail of dominoes, and at the end is your ultimate prize. This could be a pile of money if your end goal is financial, or a group of loving people if you want to reach a certain number of followers. It’s up to you. Each domino represents an action step, and they all fall onto another until you eventually get to the end. Just work on your dominos and figure out how doing one thing will progress you to the next. It will all work together.
The important thing to remember is to be as specific and detailed with your steps as possible. Are there some steps that could be broken down into smaller tasks? Do exactly that.
Now You Need a Timeline
Let’s get some due dates in there for good measure and to keep you on track. Do not– we repeat, do not– try to complete this project all in one day. Spread it out and get a good process in place. By breaking those steps down into smaller, more doable and manageable tasks that can be done each day or week, it’s so much less scary.
Trello has an awesome calendar power-up that we use to be able to see how a whole strategy will play out. Having it in calendar view could be perfect for you if you like to have visuals of what you’re doing.
You Need to Be Held Accountable
You’ve dumped your brain, made your lists, organized it, and assigned deadlines, but there’s something missing that a ton of people need.
Pressure! You might be one of those people that need to feel the pressure. You need to have someone checking up on you to make sure you did that thing so that you’ll actually get it done. This could be in the form of a single accountability buddy to send a quick text to, a group chat to check in and keep each other on top of your stuff, or someone you can hop on a Zoom call with for a few hours while you work and make sure you both did what you needed to do (which is something we personally did all the freaking time).
Not only will this accountability partner (or people) keep you on top of your game, but you can always provide endless support to each other. Find someone that you can be in each other’s corners with and support each other on your business journeys.
What if You Don’t Have a Strategy Laid Out Yet?
You have the plan to get shit done, but you have no idea where to start or what you even want to focus on. Maybe you kinda sort of have an idea of what you want to focus on in your business, but that “kinda sort of” isn’t enough to delve into.
We’ve hosted our fair share of virtual summits and had some amazing speakers present sessions on a range of topics that you could be focusing on right now in your biz, like:
Landing clients
Growing or starting your email list
Social media growth
Scaling or pivoting your business
Handling stress
Getting automations and systems in place
Setting up funnels
And tons more. Seriously, our Summits bring a total of 170+ sessions, and for the first time ever, we’ve brought them all back to give to you in the Boss Project Summit Bundle. You can have all of these sessions to pick through and find your one focus. Once you’ve crushed that one thing and checked it off your list, you still have the rest of the sessions to find the next thing strategy you want to implement.
The Summit Bundle paired with these steps to nailing a new strategy in your business is the ultimate force to help you tackle those action steps and get that goal accomplished. So, start getting those lists made, that board organized, those dates assigned, and that pressure added because it's time for you to start actually implementing those strategies.
